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Franklin County, Illinois (AVfM).
On Monday of last week Shannon Wilfong, 32, of Franklin County, Illinois pleaded guilty in Franklin County court to five misdemeanors, including obstructing a peace officer. Wilfong was sentenced to $1,500 in fines and 30 days in jail — a judge credited her with time she already has served — on that count and fines of $100 on each of four counts of unlawful interference with child visitation.
She had forced her now nine year old son, Richard, to live in a crawl space 5’ high and 12’ long and allowed him minimal time outside of the space – only when visitors were not present. He was deprived of natural sunlight and medical attention, school, friends and his father.
Wilfong’s motivation for the crime was the fear of losing her son in a custody dispute with the boy’s father, 52 year old Michael Chekevdia. Interestingly, the plea deals came with the blessings of Chekevdia who said that he had strongly suspected that Wilfong was hiding the boy in her mother’s house which police raided in September 2009. Wilfong had accused Chekevdia, a former boyfriend and Iraqi war veteran, of being abusive to his son during a custody dispute that took place after she was arrested. In February of last year circuit court Judge Melissa Drew rejected her claims and granted custody to the father under the condition that the court would maintain oversight of the child.
Wilfong had, in fact, tried to exclude Chekevdia from his son’s life almost since his birth. She repeatedly accused the father of molesting his son and tried to get social services to take action citing a bazaar reference to a photo of Richard eating popcorn out of a metal bowl in which, it was claimed, the reflection of an erect penis belonging to the person taking the photograph was visible-presumably that of Mr. Chekevdia. Investigators eventually rejected all of her claims and it was then that she abducted her son and placed him in hiding.
“We let him out of the (patrol) car and he ran around like he’d never seen outdoors. It was actually very sad,” The Mail Online quotes Illinois State Police Master Sgt Stan Diggs. “He was very happy to be outside. He said he never goes outside. Surprisingly, Ricky is in very good spirits. For someone who’s been isolated in that house with no other outside beings, he’s a very social, very polite, very talkative little boy.”
Wilfong’s sentence is roughly what an individual would receive in most U.S. states for a first time marijuana possession charge.
Sources:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/20/ap/business/main20109004.shtml
http://www.disclosurenewsonline.com/2011/09/20/case-against-shannon-wilfong-settled/
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